Looking out at a sliver of sunlight shining into a dark rocky cave
Something something Plato’s allegory of the something cave…
nothing like the last week of fieldwork for a couple of months to leave you feeling a little philosophical…
#outofdarkness @mbchimp.bsky.social
#gonechimpin #guinea #moyenbafingnationalpark
My left foreharm and hand coated in ingrained ash with a poorly chosen white swatch watch on
Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in the rainforest anymore.. 😂 It’s savannah fire season @mbchimp.bsky.social 🔥
#bloodsweatandash #fieldwork #guinea 🧪
A small black lizard is well camouflaged in the folds of a north face duffel
Probably a good job I spotted this wee hitchhiker before he caught a ride to Scottish winter.. 🥶 To be fair, bomb proof duffel fabric is pretty good lizard camouflage 😂
#fieldwork #herp #Guinea #moyenbafing @mbchimp.bsky.social
🧪
A cool leafhopper I photographed a couple days ago in Perú. Anyone know what species or genus it is? Reminds me a bit of Molomea but leafhoppers are really diverse.
TOMORROW LAST DAY!
Don’t forget to submit your applications for Student or Early Career Researcher EHBEA Grants!
More information below 👇
A baboon poop perched on top of a rock in the Guinean savannah
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a baboon in possession of a good rock, must be in want of a poop…
#fieldwork #guinea #nicerock #thisistheway #poopscience @mbchimp.bsky.social 🧪🐒💩
Photo through the windscreen of sunrise through the dust cloud of the truck in front
Looks like the dry season has started… 😷😂
#eatdust #gonechimping @mbchimp.bsky.social 🧪
🚨It’s publication day!🚨
My book OCCUPIED REFUGE is officially OUT today with Duke University Press. Available to order from all book shops!
Upcoming book launches in Glasgow, Oxford, Nairobi and—perhaps—a city near you!
Read the introduction for free online: www.dukeupress.edu/occupied-ref...
how cute is this?! Can't believe I get to see these guys already next month... 😍
Last week to apply! Don't miss this chance ✨
We’re hiring a Field Project Manager with the Moyen Bafing Chimpanzee Project!
Help run a growing wild chimpanzee research & conservation project in West Africa 🐵
Apply by 24 Feb (open until filled). More info via QR code in the image. Note: Right to work in the EU required. #job #conservation
A young chimpanzee in Guinea consumes the tasty flowers of a Bombax tree
🌸 Flower season continues in Moyen Bafing! Today’s highlight: a young chimp delicately snacking on Bombax flowers. These weeks in the PNMB are pure magic ✨
Group photograph of faculty and participants of the very first Cold Spring Harbor summer course on Genetics and Neurobiology of Language in 2014, taken as the sun was going down at the Banbury Campus, Lloyd Harbor.
Please tell friends & colleagues about our unique course “Genetics & Neurobiology of Language” July 27-Aug 3 2026. Expert tutors, interactive talks, panel discussions, all in a beautiful setting. Scholarships available: meetings.cshl.edu/courses.aspx...
@cshlnews.bsky.social @cshlbanbury.bsky.social
Has any linguist looked into the NXIVM cult's language acquisition experiments?
Babies were systematically exposed to up to 9 languages. Allegedly, they ended up speaking gibberish.
(Quotes from Sally Denton's 2022 book "The Colony.")
#LangSky #Linguistics
The late philosopher Daniel Dennett had a notable penchant for metaphor—but he rarely used just one. Instead, he often engaged in what @sflusberg.bsky.social calls "metaphorical triangulation."
Just one of the topics discussed in our latest episode!
Listen: disi.org/the-aura-of-...
I made a map of 3.4 million Bluesky users - see if you can find yourself!
bluesky-map.theo.io
I've seen some similar projects, but IMO this seems to better capture some of the fine-grained detail
A Tom Gould cartoon, "Reworking my primate feeding study due to budget restrictions". On the left side is a schematic labeled "original version" with symbols for motion-activated cameras, 1000km2 of tropical forest, mountain gorilla, monkey, fruit tree. On the right is the same schematic, labeled "new version" with the symbols labeled motion-activated camera, kitchen, spouse, offspring, biscuit tin
I'm sure this is a funnier @tomgauld.bsky.social cartoon for people who are not former primatologists who spent the morning looking at birds in the snow just to get the "I am watching an animal in a tree through binoculars" rush again.
We can all agree that metaphors are nice. But are they also sometimes necessary? Could there be ideas we simply can't approach literally, thoughts we can't think without metaphors?
Just one of the topics discussed in our latest episode, w/ @sflusberg.bsky.social!
Listen: disi.org/the-aura-of-...
Thrilled that our elephant gesture work got featured in the latest National Geographic PhotoArk edition @natgeophotos.bsky.social @angelastoeger.bsky.social @nakedprimate.bsky.social. Photo Ark uses the power of photography to inspire people to help protect at-risk species before it’s too late.
An underexplored word order principle, swap distance minimization, constrains word variation even after controlling for the actual word order diversity.
Joint work with @hectobreak.bsky.social and Arnau Martí Llobet
Free <50 copies
www.tandfonline.com/eprint/Y6CPR...
Great piece on prioritizing quality over quantity in scientific publication.
For those of us with labs, this necessarily involves shrinking our group size. After I got tenure I started to downsize my lab and have not regretted it one iota. More time for each student & more time to think & write.
A tarantula lifts several legs while army ants move on the ground - black and white shot
Gotta keep some of those eight legs up out the way when the safari ants are marauding…
#bugomaprimates #bugomaforest #notachimp #tarantula #furryfriend 🧪
After reviewing nearly 200 applications from prospective grad students and postdocs over the past few months for a couple different 🧪⚒️ postings, here are some tips, at least as they apply to North American positions. I hope they help future applicants. Share with your networks. 🧵
I had the honour of working to bring @auersperga.bsky.social’s baby to life. It’s a VERY heavy baby - over 200 references (and yes I read them all) - but necessary to do justice to our new hypothesis of combinatory tool use origins 📝👶🛠️
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
ASAB Important Upcoming Dates. ASAB Spring Conference 2026 (logo of gorilla with baby on back) Bristol 23rd-25th March. Feb 1: Conference travel grants due Feb 1: Abstracts due Feb 19: Registration ends Animal Behaviour in the Anthropocene ECBB 2025 (logo of various animals in a reflected city). Cambridge 1st-4th September. Jan 31: Symposia submission deadline March 14: Abstracts due March 31: Early bird registration ends April 1: Developing country travel grants due June 1: Conference travel grants due
Take note! 📝 There are a lot of important dates coming up for #ASABSpring2026 and #ECBB2026 🗓️
More information here: www.asab.org/conferences-...
Fireflies twinkle in a dark forest evening
fieldwork fairylights 💚💚💚 Happy Chimpmas Eve everyone!
🧪🐵
Had fun with this one!
In which I discuss: dolphins, elephants, marmosets, teknonymy, necronymy, reciprocal names in New Guinea, nominative determinism, the Bob-Kirk effect, the face-name-matching effect, name signs, toponyms, dog names, name uniqueness, alexinomia, toponyms, name taboos, etc.
A brown freckled faced adult male chimpanzee sits in dark dense leafy undergrowth
just above the equator #wintersolstice is technically still the shortest day in #bugomaforest, but didn’t feel like it on a 13hr follow, light scrumping, rain dancing, shout at northern neighbours & a slow peaceful settling into the nest for well deserved sleep… not a bad welcome back furry fam 💚 🧪
Merry Christmas!! This Christmas, give the gift of hope. Your donation helps the Animal Behavior Collective ensure more students receive the resources they need to learn, grow, and thrive. Donate!
Wishing everyone a joyful holiday season ❄️🎄⛄
At @abcmicrogrants.bsky.social 🐝🐝🐝, we’re excited to support even more #AnimalBehavior students through #microgrants + #mentorship. Your generosity makes this possible - consider donating to help us keep this work going!
Linguaphile Magazine is crowdfunding printing for their first physical edition. It looks very beautiful.
www.linguaphilemagazine.org
This project received a 2024 #lingcomm grant commendation, it's exciting to see this turn into a physical product!
